Nykritisk Method Psykoanalytisk Method

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

A big city where hundreds of different people exist. Where the birds are singing, the sun is shining, people are laughing and smiling, but nobody notices this man, leaning against the building and looking very sad. This man is Sam Folwell. A man from the countryside.

The story revolves around two men Cal and Sam, whose families were in a feud started in the Cumberland Mountains. The feud resulted in each family only having one surviving member. One day Cal moves to New York to get away from his family's murderous past, but unfortunately Sam follows with the aim of finding him. Sam is constantly confronted to the urban life, as he spots all the people passing by him. Sam does not find this thrilling and feels very misplaced surrounded by these unfamiliar circumstances. Suddenly Cal appears and Sam feels very relieved over his presence. The rivals put aside all of the past hitches and the similarities between them increase, while they warmly greet using a rural hello: "Howdy, Cal! I'm durned glad to see ye." (P. L.)

"Take a walk for yourself," said the policeman.

You've been loafing around here long enough." (P. L.)

The themes in this short story is culture adjustment and in what way the big city affects the people´s life. The short story also illustrates the reality of the outsider´s experience in visiting a big city, especially coming from a rural area.

This study seeks to prove which themes that occurs in this short story, and in order to investigate and occur with a conclusion of the themes there will be used these methods:

Nykritisk method

Psykoanalytisk method

Urban planning is recognized as the well populated areas and rural planning is recognized as the sparsely populated areas ordinarily farming communities. O. Henry portrays how the urban planning influences the rural citizen Sam Folwell.

"Sam leaned against the sharp corner of a stone

building. Those faces passed him by thousands, and

none of them were turned toward him. A sudden fool-

ish fear that he had died and was a spirit, and that

they could not see him, seized him. And then the city

smote him with loneliness." (P. L. )

This quote gives the reader the idea of the setting, the habits and traits associated with the citizens from urban versus rural living. The tall buildings, many people with different ethnic backgrounds, passing by this rural citizen. Sam's trip to New York is tremendously distressing since he has to face all of the aspects of the American life in a big city, which seems to be drastically apart from the rural living. He has spent his lifetime in a wild circle of mountains and nature, and is placed into a harsh edged square, the New York City. The composition of the story is like a fairytale and is filled with witty statements of the American life. Cal is the expected hero that saves Sam from the bad experience in New York City. Just like a Prince will save his Princess from the evil stepmother. The story starts with a geometrical discourse that makes the reader think throughout the story and gives an explanation about the meaning of squares and circles. The disharmony and conflicts are built up when Sam is loafing around the city entirely unable to connect to it. When Sam sees a familiar face, the harmony gets back again and things is starting to get better. At story's final O. Henry uses a comical twist which provides the reader a little laugh, but also reminds us the main aspects of the story that refers to the rural citizens point of view when it comes to big cities. It is a very common use in O. Henry's stories. "Howdy, Cal! I'm durned glad to see ye."(P. L.)

Circles represent the nature and wilderness, which refers to peace and life. Circles are rounded and very smoothly shaped, just like the nature life and therefore people feel the best when they are among nature surroundings where everything is in harmony. Squares represent the industrious life that is an opposition to the nature and wilderness. Squares symbolizes big cities filled with harsh lines and edges with square houses, buildings, the subway and skyscrapers. The sharp angles of squares also refers to rules and laws which is not always appropriate for the nature.

There may be a deeper message within this story. Sam Folwell has as a citizen of a rural area learned a lot from the whole episode, within his trip to New York City. Sam Folwell is going through a very positive personality maturing process where he develops his abilities and potential to understand the life within urban living and at the same time learning to accept his former foe Cal Harkness and enjoying his appearance. This story may be a whole message to people who feel the same way as Sam does and it also gives the reader something to think about later. There may be situations like this where you feel very unhappy and filled with nothing than loneliness, and seeing a familiar face that can light up your world and fill it with the sweetest joy, even if it is an old rival. At the end of the day it does not matter whether the person is your rival or a good friend.

O. Henry´s short story can be compared to Claude McKay "On Broadway". "On broadway" is about feeling lonely while everyone around is happy and without any worries. In 1920-21 one million immigrants came to America. Claude Mckay also moved from Jamaica to New York City. Claude McKay gives the portrait of how the immigrants feel about the immigration including himself. Just like everyone else Claude McKay cannot escape from his wonderful past in Jamaica and these word describes his and the other immigrants feelings about their new town:

"As in a dream I stand and gaze

At Broadway, shining Broadway/Oh wonderful is Broadway

— only My heart, my heart is lonely." ( P. L.)

This quote is from O. Henry´s short story and can be compared to Claude McKay´s quote. It describes the moment and feelings about being in a big city where everything moves forward without stopping:

"All life moved on tracks, in grooves, accord-

ing to system, within boundaries, by rote. The root

of life was the cube root; the measure of existence

was square measure. People streamed by in straight

rows; the horrible din and crash stupefied him. " (P. L.)

What this analysis set out to make is to end it with a conclusion whether there is a reflection of the environment in the character´s personality and if it is in a positive manner.

Furthermore I can now conclude that the development of the character´s personality depends on the culture and the environment.

When originated from the rural living and visiting an urban area it will mostly result in feeling lonely and very unhappy. There are a lot of reasons that can cause these feelings, mostly because the surroundings is very unfamiliar and not common in rural areas.

There is a reflection of the environment in Sam´s personality and O. Henry illustrates that very virtuously when Sam greets Cal with a very warmly greet.

So overall the culture and the environment do affect the personality of a human being and it depends on the circumstances whether it is in a positive nor negative manner.